Newsom cheers Fair Share from Big Corporations Act after previous skepticism
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday he signed the Fair Share from Big Corporations Act. But his administration has not indicated if it plans to begin drafting the proposal required under the law before his term ends.
The measure orders the Department of Finance to develop proposals to require California’s largest corporations to help pay for employees’ Medi-Cal coverage and submit them to lawmakers by March 1, 2027. Because the recommendations are not due until after Newsom leaves office, it remains unclear whether the effort will be driven by his administration or his successor.
Newsom’s press office and the Department of Finance did not respond to a request for comment.
Some proponents of the tax had criticized the bill as a compromise measure that leaves the difficult political decision of whether to enact a tax for the next governor and Legislature.
For Wednesday’s bill signing, Newsom held a public ceremony alongside labor leaders and health access advocates who pushed lawmakers to consider the tax. His embrace of the legislation marked a shift for the governor, who appeared uninterested in engaging with the corporate tax proposal as recently as May.
“I am satisfied by the proposals we have,” Newsom said when a reporter asked about the Fair Share proposal during his final May budget presentation. The governor was referring to revenue raisers he included in his budget plan, chiefly a tax increase on commercial health insurance plans, a sales tax on digital software sales and a change to some corporate tax credits.
But state Senate leadership had embraced the Fair Share plan. And ultimately both legislative chambers aligned behind including the requirement for the Department of Finance in the agreement with the governor.
Rather than merely sign the bill and move on, Newsom on Wednesday cheered it.
“California supports innovation, investment and the businesses that drive our economy,” Newsom said in a news release. “But we also believe the biggest and most profitable companies should do their fair share—not shift the cost of employee health care onto taxpayers.”
Advocates of the tax celebrated the governor’s endorsement.
“We were thrilled to see the governor get to a place where he supported it so enthusiastically and vocally that he did the bill signing,” Rachel Linn Gish, the interim deputy director of Health Access California, told The Sacramento Bee.
She said advocates for Fair Share — which include labor unions, health access and immigrant advocacy organizations — do not expect concrete action on the tax proposal from Newsom before he leaves office.
They are instead turning their attention to the next governor.
“We’ll be watching closely to make sure this promise becomes real, lasting accountability for corporations,” said Kiran Savage-Sangwan, director of the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, in a statement Wednesday. “But today is proof that it’s possible.”
Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, told reporters she has already begun speaking with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra about moving forward on the proposal.
Becerra’s policy agenda includes “stopping large employers from shifting costs onto taxpayers,” according to his campaign website. He said he would look forward to working with the Legislature to turn the Fair Share from Big Corporations Act into an enforceable policy if elected.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, however, opposes the tax.
“What is wrong with Xavier Becerra? Can’t he see that working Californians are desperate for change?“ Hilton told The Bee in a statement. “We already have the highest cost of living in the country, and now Becerra wants to make it even worse by continuing Gavin Newsom’s cruel and unfair new health tax.”
Newsom is term limited and will soon leave the governor’s office. But he’s eyeing a presidential run in 2028. Over the last year, Newsom has begun to speak more often about the nation’s wealth inequality. Although he has consistently opposed a state billionaire’s tax, arguing it would encourage the ultra-wealthy to relocate, late last month he advocated for a national billionaire’s tax in a blog post.
“The wealthy have their own private tax code full of loopholes and exemptions that most people have never heard of, and they’re counting on politicians in Washington to maintain it and keep quiet,” Newsom wrote on Substack.
This story was originally published July 9, 2026 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Newsom cheers Fair Share from Big Corporations Act after previous skepticism."
